A Development Issue As It Pertains To Hastings Cunningham Reserve

Howdy dear availees...it's now a week since I started this post, and whilst it is related to our recent tomes on the Hastings Cunningham Reserve, it refers to all of Mt Gambiers' precious few 'open spaces'...this exchange is actually from The Mount Gambier Independent Facebook page...

This is a super-short post 'cos I wanted to just use this one exchange as the sole focus...it relates to HCR in many ways, but also relates directly to all of the parks and reserves in the City area...basically,  retaining precious open spaces and how that relates to appropriate development...(I'm sure many availees are already aware of many of the issues raised below, not least of all the efforts to stop The Marketplace that were made by various "vested interests" in Mt Gambier City Council and/or the Mt Gambier Chamber of Commerce and/or the District Council of Grant-Ed)...indeed Ed, much was the shenaniganigging done that fine morn...(nice one, but more a series of morns really, just to be accurate-Ed)...well, okay,  just to be accurate, down the years and on multiple issues, I've heard literally the same refrain, a litany of "vested interests aligned with and/or in Council" stories......and in that context I'm confident to support everything that's in the statement/response below...

This is also an excellent exercise in how rumours can very quickly and very easily go very completely ass-about...(and how often the facts are what's actually interesting-Ed)...well quite...the content of the "rumors" mentioned below are slightly irritating but not unexpected behaviour re what MGCC has supposedly done and why, etc, but the very polite response to that mis-held belief, about what's actually happened, now that's somethin' you can get ya' teeth into...(yep, that good ol' reality, that's layers-upon-layers of home-spun chunky goodness right there-Ed)...it'll sure-as-heck cure what ails ya'...(you mean in a 'the truth will set you free' kinda' way?-Ed)...yeah sure, like that...

This is from, I wanna' say, like, the 4th Feb...(forgot to date it when you cut-'n'-pasted it?-Ed)...yeahhhh, but it's likely still on TMGI Facebook...(yeah, it was actually 1st Feb 2023, just checked it-Ed)...cheers...so here 'tis...***

• Nev Moody

  Have heard rumors that Council has had a consultant tell them there is too much green space in Mt. Gambier.

  I wonder what that consultants breif was.

  Consultants tend to provide what they are asked for, makes getting paid easier.
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• Reply
Wayne Philp
Nev Moody that rumour might be getting confused with a consultant that council engaged in the hope of preventing retail development outside of the CBD before the Market Place on Penola Road was approved . I was directly involved in what that was all about with the proposal to develop the Market Place shopping precinct that’s now on Penola Road at the Northern Gateway of Mount Gambier.
The City council engaged an independent consultant to consider the CBD and the retail / commercial fabric of the city . Much to the disappointment of those who had considerable influence over council, who tried to stop that development on Penola Road, the independent consultant said that there was a lack of open and green space on the CBD . They said the it was valuable as community space / use and shouldn’t be wasted. Not only did it not help the vested interests trying to protect those interests in the CBD, it had the opposite effect and justified retail / commercial development on the city fringes.
Regardless of what that consultant said at that time, now that the retail / commercial development has taken place outside of the CBD and the threats by particular vested interests of damage to the business and community fabric of the city has been proven to be false, this highlights the value of open and green space in the CBD and central zones inside residential development.
With unlimited land on the city outskirts and much residential development in that land now, it should highlight the value of open and green space inside the city proper. There is now no justification to build out those rare patches of land, especially when they are effectively owned by the community.
Cramming more development on rare open space in the city proper is a waste of land that, with the residential development that surrounds it, is best used for community use. The variety of community uses with these limited open / green spaces aren’t difficult to understand or see potentials of. To deny the value of these open / green spaces would be completely disingenuous by anyone, especially council and elected politicians who control or influence it.
What has now happened with the release of constrictions on retail / commercial development outside of the CBD, is the ability in the CBD and city proper to have orderly planning that considers and runs with quality of life development that also includes sustainable development. Now that retail / commercial development is on the city fringes and residential development is taking place around that, there is no reason to cram inappropriate development inside the CBD or city proper.
Regarding the abundance of land around the city, there is no need to cram any development in a way that inhibits quality of life abs sustainable development in and around the city. Open and green space community use land should be a priority because the value and need for that is obvious .

***....again, those dear availees who are aware of the many "vested interests" as quoted here-in, and of the many, many instances of impropriety like Insider Trading, Nepotism, Malfeasance, etc, as committed by their local Council, they fully understand why it would cause such a panic in Mt Gambier when Mt Gambier City Council posts a 'single-line item' notification for a meeting titled "Update Hastings Cunningham Reserve Area and Public Housing"...(and even those people not reading TMGI at all, I'm sure they were equally concerned-Ed)...and that's my point exactly Ed...

These "rumours" about MGCC trying for development near/adjacent to HCR, along the Rail Lands and/or on vacant sites nearby, etc, etc, have been circulating for roughly a year as I've been aware of them...(and that slightly more recent stuff about Apollo soccer club possibly expanding onto the closed tennis courts site, etc, all those aligned rumours have ebbed and flowed-Ed)...yes they have...(and recently that train of "rumours" swerved madly offa' the tracks, and ploughed through the Rail Lands fence right onto HCR itself-Ed)...yes those damned rumours did...as best I can figure out, what's thus far passed-off as "rumours", is actually a series of several truths, themselves not all specifically connected, but we'll cover that in the next post or two...(sounds fascinating-Ed)...as it stands, and as proven by the sudden and visceral response when I first posted about 'HCR and Housing', there was clearly wide-spread community concern about MGCCs' conduct, and long before I posted...

A community that does not trust their Council; that is fertile ground for "rumours".  

A majority of that mistrust is generated by MGCCs' extraordinarily secretive conduct re the massive cost blow-out of the Wulanda Hub project.

So next post we'll get into "Rumours" and 'facts' and specifically as it all relates to HCR...Mt Gambiers' precious open spaces continue to be at risk, and even HCR is not immune from that...

Tomorrow: Like We Said, More HCR

I am Nick Fletcher, that's Ed...(ciao-Ed)...and this here's the blog what we done do...cheers and laters...